[sledhead35]

CFL commissioner Mark Cohon took a big step towards protecting the league's players this week and a small step towards regaining control of the league from its players association.

Now, we can only hope that Cohon's bold move will ultimately lead to the CFL finally escaping the ignominy of being one of the last pro leagues anywhere that still doesn't have a random drug testing policy.

In case you missed it, Cohon unilaterally handed down a new dictum on Thursday that will impose mandatory suspensions for dangerous hits like the head shot Edmonton Eskimos linebacker Augie Barrenechea laid on Blue Bomber quarterback Kevin Glenn last week.

Cohon not only did it without the approval of the players' association, he effectively challenged them to do something about it, knowing full well that the CFLPA would look awful challenging a new rule aimed at protecting their own members' safety.

And that's exactly why Cohon should follow up with another unilateral dictum aimed at player safety, this one announcing that beginning in 2009, random drug testing will be a condition of employment in the CFL.

The NFL does it. The NHL does it. Heck, even Major League Baseball at least pretends to have an effective random drug testing policy.

And so do the Manitoba Bisons. You read that right -- the city's university football players are randomly tested for drugs, but not its professional football players. They've been doing it in the CIS since 1990. Unbelievable.

The CFLPA has resisted efforts to impose a random drug testing policy in the past and CFL union types will argue they have a contract that extends through 2010 which prevents any drug policy from being imposed on them without their approval.

Tough, I say. If the players don't like it, they can go play elsewhere. We'll all still be laughing when they come crawling back, having realized that for many of them, the CFL is the last and best option.

Now, this is not to say that the CFLPA -- or other players unions -- don't play a valuable role in protecting players' rights, guaranteeing working conditions and ensuring former players have pensions. Those are all good things and they're good for everyone, including the fans.

Indeed, if you want to see what a league without a players union looks like, you just have to look to the stadium at the other end of Portage Avenue where the Winnipeg Goldeyes play.

With no union to represent them, most of the players of the Northern League toil for a few hundred bucks a week. The salary cap for the league is $120,000 a season -- not per player, per team. For the entire season. Believe it, I checked.


Their per diem on the road? A paltry $18 -- not per meal, for the entire day. You cannot eat three squares a day at McDonald's for that and you're not a professional athlete.

All of that in a league where the ballparks in many cities -- Winnipeg leading the way -- are packed night after night.

It's shameful, frankly, and it does a disservice not just to the ballplayers, but also to the fans, who have a right to expect the athletes they've paid to watch haven't had to dig into their own meagre earnings just to feed themselves on the road.

So no one is suggesting the CFL adopt the Northern League's approach to labour relations. Indeed, it was precisely labour relations like that back in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, an era when players were treated like chattel and owners lit cigars with $100 bills, that thankfully led to the formation of the modern player unions.

But what the CFL has in place now -- for no apparent reason given that many players couldn't play anywhere else -- is something approaching the opposite extreme, where the players are dictating policy to the league.

The result is equally shameful and one can only hope that Cohon's unilateral dictum this week is the first step in the league seizing back control.

It should do it for the good of the CFL and they should also do it for the good of the players.

Finally, they should do it for the good of the fans, who have a right to expect that the athletes they've paid to watch are safe -- from drugs and from each other.